At long last! The time has come. Trade in your gladius for a spatha and lance, and mount up! The cavalry has arrived and Britannia awaits!
As the Roadmap promised, this final update's main feature is Roman and Barbarian cavalry units. Your legion will be bolstered by the addition of two new groups, the Equites Legionis, and the Cohors Amicorum. Horsemen are fast and deadly, armed with spears and longswords capable of quickly dispatching foes underfoot.
Barbarian forces will also be strengthened by the legendary chariots of Britannia. Although considered antiquated at this point by the Romans, they will nonetheless demonstrate their timeless superiority in the open fields and rolling hills of Britannia.
Another new change in this update is an almost full rework of the legion's high command. Now, special standard bearers, such as the Aquilifer will be integrated directly into centuries, promoted from a Signifer. They will stay in formation like Signifers, putting them at increased risk, but this was the historical reality. In addition, the Cohors Amicorum is now the new "command group," replacing the ahistorical group in the original version of the game. The final change is that Auxiliary Prefects are now promoted from Tribunes in the Cohors Amicorum, meaning they do not come from the ranks of the auxiliaries themselves. This was one inaccurate point in the original game's ranking system I needed to remedy. In reality, auxiliary forces would always have a "true born" Roman commander.
I would highly recommend you all create a new post-cavalry save file, but I have strived to make previous saved games compatible. Worst case is you will need to re-promote your special standard bearers and auxiliary prefects.
I hope these new changes and additions make Warlord: Britannia's in-game legion even more historically accurate and interesting! See below for the full update log.
Update log:
Added equites legionis group
Added cohors amicorum group
Added roman horses
Added barbarian horses
Added barbarian chariots
Added legate’s horse
Added equestrian roman names for equites legionis
Added aristocratic roman names for cohors amicorum
Added cognomen (hereditary nicknames) for cohors amicorum. It is now possible to generate real historical figures, such as a Gaius Julius Caesar
Added 9 new ranks
Added 4 new equestrian helmets not including variations
Added 5 new armor components
Added spatha
Added lancea
Added equestrian tent
Added cavalry weapon animation variant
Added spear weapon animation variant
Added cavalry control button to cycle formation follow, player follow, and charge independent of other units
Added damage and striking force multiplier based on speed when mounted
Added sword clash sounds that play randomly in combat
Added 2 new quests/achievements for cavalry
Added new achievement for finding all items in the museum
Added 4 new soundtracks, 1 marching, 1 camp daytime, and 2 camp nighttime ambience tracks
Added new pilum UI icon
Added new UI for tracking items discovered in the museum
Added backwards compatibility checks that refund old standard bearers and auxiliary prefects to conform to new army organization
Changed gladius icon to include spear, since player can use both now
Changed special standard bearers to join normal centuries, see in-game backwards compatibility message if loading an old save
Changed legionary and engineering prefects to join the cohors amicorum
Changed auxiliary infantry and archer prefects to be promoted from members of and remain in the cohors amicorum
Changed quests to consider the new army organization
Improved combat AI to maintain better distance from target
Updated help menu to mention new weapon and cavalry controls
Updated the museum with new cavalry units and items
Disabled barbarian friendly fire
Fixed erroneous Pugio and Cingulum museum entry on artilleryman
Fixed build tool UI not hiding when hiding UI
Fixed sword controls not hiding when hiding UI
Fixed AI gliding during combat
As this is the final major update for Warlord: Britannia, I want to thank all of you for the support and enthusiasm this past year. Your positive reviews and comments mean the world to me and keep me motivated to continue the Warlord franchise into it's next adventure!
In the next few weeks expect some patches, then I will be transitioning to the next project. Please join the Discord server, as that is where you will find the most up-to-date information regarding the next game. However, I will continue to post formal announcements here for all existing Warlord players!
Enjoy the new cavalry-infused battlescape of Britannia! The Emperor expects great things from you all...
Development News
Legates,
Greetings! It has been a while since the last official announcement. In fact, Steam (as opposed to Discord, where my announcements are more frequent and less formal) has not been treated to any news since Animals and Ambience, before my trip to Greece, my apologies for this. Well, I have been back in the States and hard at work these past two months! After a series of delays, it became very hard to pinpoint an exact date for the Cavalry update, but things are finally coming together!
I am happy to announce Cavalry will be launching next week, Friday the 15th, alongside a 20% discount! Not only has this update taken the longest to finish, but it also contains the most new "things," and the largest file size increase to date. Both Roman and Barbarian forces are getting big upgrades, the conflict over Britannia will ratchet up even further.
Get ready to trade in your gladius for a spatha, and Mount up! I will be working now to get the last things done for the release. Thank you all for your patience as we approach the final Warlord: Britannia major update, this will be very exciting. Until then!
Animals and Ambience 6.0
Legates,
Greetings! I am happy to announce the release of Animals and Ambience! This is the 5th roadmap update released thus far, and while tamer than others, should bring some pleasant life to the world of Warlord: Britannia!
This update contains two main additions, domesticated farm animals which populate barbarian settlements, and some new camp decorations and tents. Unarmed convoys have also been expanded with new wandering shepherds and goatherds!
New camp structures include the frequently suggested Legate's tent, supply tent, and servant's tent. The supply tent does not add to your storage, but instead provides an organized and covered space to place storage structures, which have been expanded upon with amphorae, grain sacks, and packing gear.
Update Log:
Added sheep
Added goat
Added pig
Added cow
Added chicken
Added goose
Added animal sounds
Added new exploration soundtrack
Added shepherd convoy type
Added goatherd convoy type
Added supply tent structure
Added servants tent structure
Added legates tent structure with new decorations
Added brazier light structure
Added amphora storage structure
Added rolls storage structure
Added sacks storage structure
Added packs storage structure
Updated museum readouts with edited texts
Changed main menu theme
Adjusted build tool so it defaults to grid mode on load
Adjusted servants to prefer supply and servant tents
Reduced penalty for killing unarmed groups
Increased supplies carried by unarmed groups
Increased convoy spawn rate slightly
Reduced armed convoy spawn chance to favor unarmed slightly
Reduced chance for settlement garrisoned barbarians to bunch up on points
Fixed player icon not updating in the map screen
Fixed progress locking when a past quest is missing
Those who read the last announcement carefully will know I am soon leaving for an archeological expedition to Greece. This will take place between June 17th and July 4th. I hope to lay the groundwork for the Cavalry update before departing, then get back to work upon my return!
As always, please use Discord and Steam to bring bugs to my attention, your help is critical. Thank you all for the support and encouragement!
1-Year Anniversary
Legates,
I am happy to announce the 1-year anniversary of Warlord: Britannia and the foundation of Darkmatter Games! To commemorate this event I would like to share some interesting details about the game's origins, early scope, development cycle, and the launch last year.
Darkmatter Begins
Since middle school I have been interested in making games (I am almost 23 now). I started dabbling in 2D games with Scratch, a web-browser program designed by MIT to introduce visual coding to kids. After graduating from Scratch I picked up the basics of coding with Game Maker Studio by creating an Asteroids clone. This concept of Newtonian-physics was so interesting to me I decided to take the plunge into 3D development with Unity, which is still my engine of choice. In Unity, I worked on a multitude of smaller projects while in high school, some more feature rich than others, but all the while building up my toolset for a future commercial game. This is a screenshot from Impulse: Space Combat, a game now available for free on itch.io (visit my website for a link if interested).
Latin Project
While I had always had a surface level interest in Roman History, it was not until taking Latin classes in high school that I saw the potential in portraying history via the medium of video games. For my final project in the last year of the language I decided to create a first person Roman game. This project was incredibly barebones, purely a showcase, but elements of it's DNA can still be found in current versions of Warlord: Britannia.
Roma Invicta
The summer after graduating high school (2018) was truly when the game we now know as Warlord: Britannia came into being. I was fortunate enough to be brought along to England on a family trip that summer. After seeing the Roman Baths and other ruins, as well as the inviting English countryside first hand, I was convinced I could create a compelling game in that setting. Upon return home I quickly began development on project "Roma Invicta," a two-team instant-action game centered around Battlefield like control points and respawn tickets.
Campaign Mode
Following that first summer of development and my entrance into university, I picked up a minor in Classics, mainly Roman History (comprising almost all of my electives, to the detriment of my computer science major). This inspired me with more ambitious ideas for an open-world style conquest mode. The concept of a first-person open-world RTS (now known as Warlord, with it's underlying principle of immersive-strategy) was not totally new. Years earlier I had envisioned an expansion for Impulse: Space Combat in the same vein, but as my interests changed, I went all-in with the Romans. Sadly, screenshots of the game between the original instant-action mode (seen above) and the Beta I version have been lost, although this single image may be dated to that development period.
Core Development
With the idea of a campaign mode firmly established and growing in scope, what followed in 2019 and 2020 was a period of long and often sporadic development as I continued my studies online through the pandemic. During this time I crafted the underlying systems for ranks, the formation, building, enemy settlements, and raids (convoys and noble gatherings did not exist until much later). During this time I also overhauled the visual style of the game with improved modelling and texturing techniques. Note that at this point the game was confined to a small sandbox terrain surrounded by mountain ranges, not the the current, more realistic landscape.
Betas
Once the game reached a semi-playable state I created the Darkmatter Games Discord server and invited some friends (look for members with the Beta I and II Veteran roles) to try it out in two limited Betas. At this point the Discord server contained basic Roman ranks, but there was no functioning government as there is now, and it only contained a handful of members. The first Beta, in August 2021, took place on that original testing map, and was missing many features that became pivotal to the game, such as settlement unrest. The second Beta, in March of 2022, featured the finalized map of the game, and almost all of the launch-day features.
Warlord
In the couple months after Beta II, and before the launch of the game, its final name was selected. No longer just "Roma Invicta," I envisioned a series of titles in the same spirit, with Britannia as the first entry in this new Warlord franchise. Although this franchise idea could have been labeled delusion, as at the time I had no evidence to indicate the game's outcome on Steam would warrant any future plans.
Release
Leading up to the launch I sent Steam keys to prominent Youtubers in the historical-gaming sphere. However, Wishlists were very low, with most coming from a small Facebook ad my dad kindly set up. I did not expect the game to garner much more attention than that, but I was happy with the finished product. With this in mind, I decided to launch the game as a Full Release, not Early Access, with the idea that I could gauge sales as well as player feedback and enthusiasm, without making any hard Early Access promises in case the title flopped on the market (I was admitted into graduate school for that fall as backup).
Despite this haphazard approach to marketing, a number of those Youtuber's picked up the game right before and around launch, and Steam's algorithms favored Warlord: Britannia, catapulting it into the top of the New & Trending section for over two weeks (only to be beat out by the new Sniper Elite). With this unexpected success on my hands I quickly finalized and published the Update Roadmap, which contained ideas from prospective players who joined the Discord pre-launch, as well as initial reactions to the game after it was publicly released. At that point I also scrapped my plans for graduate school and transitioned to working full time on Darkmatter Games.
Post-Launch Updates
Work on the Roadmap picked up right after release, and I am pleased to say everything promised thus far has been delivered. While working on these updates I have followed player feedback and suggestions closely. Almost everything added into the game post-launch was at one point an idea from a player or Discord member. Here is a quick outline of the major update releases thus far.
Foundations 2.0, August 29, 2022
Auxiliaries 3.0, October 24th, 2022
Archers and Artillery 4.0, December 14th, 2022
Logistics and Outposts 5.0, March 16th, 2023
End of Roadmap
As many of you know, with the completion of Logistics and Outposts, the Roadmap only contains two more planned updates: Animals and Ambience, and the much anticipated Cavalry addition. Animals and Ambience is well on the way and is optimistically estimated to release June 2nd!
After Animals and Ambience, I will be travelling abroad in Greece with my Roman History professor, who invited me to help out with their archeological survey of Plataea, in Thebes. I will be out town on this expedition June 17th to July 4th, but I should be able to reconnect here and there.
The Roadmap also contained a final "Future" category which included some highly ambitious items that could come to the game at some point. These included: Diplomacy and Tribes, Drop-in Multiplayer, and Workshop Support. After much consideration I have decided to remove explicit mention of these from the latest edition of the Roadmap, and rename the category "Support and Future," to give me more flexibility after the Cavalry update is complete. However, rest assured these items and many more suggestions are still possible for Warlord: Britannia further down the line. Here is the latest edition of the Update Roadmap:
What's Next for Darkmatter Games?
This next year of work at Darkmatter Games will be different. Instead of the usual ebb and flow of Warlord: Britannia updates, after the completion of Cavalry, I will pivot to laying the groundwork for the Warlord franchise going forward. To facilitate this, I plan on putting together a brand new development PC (open to build suggestions) and loading up all new software (I am currently reliant on Unity and Blender versions from 2018). My current system, which is long past outdated, may be converted into more of a test-bed and/or an Official Darkmatter Games Minecraft server. With this refresh I plan on adhering to a modernized and industry standard workflow, so future Warlord titles will not suffer from extreme cases of "technical debt," as Warlord: Britannia has.
In the 3-6 months after the Cavalry update I plan on announcing the following:
A new code base and design philosophy that will power all future Warlord titles, essentially an engine within the Unity engine
A new "little brother" franchise to run either in parallel or alternation with Warlord. Something with a different scope and focus, but the same historically authentic, "boots on the ground" feel
And finally, the next title in the Warlord franchise. More on all of this soon!
With these announcements and transition into the post-Roadmap development period, I may also expose elements of my solo-game development process to those especially interested in learning, via a paid platform such as Patreon. My hope with something like this would be to cultivate a new corps of like-minded, multi-disciplined developers that can further enrich the historical-gaming market with their own creative ideas. The fee would be nominal and simply to offset my own time commitment providing individual support while I continue development at Darkmatter Games. More on this in the next 6-12 months, but if any of you are already interested in such a program, reach out on Discord so I can get a gauge.
Legacy Builds
To give you all a hands on look into the evolution of Warlord: Britannia, I have dug through my archives and found the above mentioned Latin class final project build, as well as the Beta I version of Warlord: Britannia (then known as "Roma Invicta"). Access to these archaic game builds are on the Discord server in the "anniversary" channel!
Signing Off
Thank you all for your support and encouragement over the past year! I could not be doing any of this without all of you. Special thanks to those contributing to the community on Discord and Steam. I would also like to mention Discord Co-Consuls (senior moderators) cametexx and Volsung who have held their democratically elected offices repeatedly and help me immensely with the daily operation of the sever.
The future is bright for Warlord and Darkmatter Games, and I am thrilled to bring more compelling historical content to Steam in the coming months and years. Stay tuned for Animals and Ambience!
Update 5.22
Legates,
Another bug fix for the latest 5.2 Update. There were two serious issues I have resolved. First, command staff not following the formation correctly, and second, outposts not functioning correctly. These should both be squared away now. If you built an outpost in 5.2, you may need to re-assign groups to them, as they might have been reset with this patch!
Update Log:
Fixed units going to the wrong outposts or to the homebase instead of an outpost
Fixed command staff not working in formation when changing to battle mode
Fixed auxiliary helment feathers not removing when promoted to optio
Fixed outposts refunding for wood
Lowered minimum enemy-nearby amount to throw pilum
Thank you all for your patience and for the helpful bug reports!
Update 5.21
Legates,
Just a quick bug fix for the latest 5.2 Update. There was an issue with the updated Help Menu that prevented Auxiliary recruitment for some players. This has been fixed!
See also a creative design for an artillery platform, posted by Discord member, and current Imaginifer in the server, Stechus Kaktus.
Update 5.2
Legates,
I am excited to deliver one more unannounced update before moving to the next major addition, Animals and Ambience! This update brings a huge improvement and expansion to the base building side of Warlord: Britannia.
The first and most immediately noticeable change is the new Build menu, accessible with (B). This menu organizes the game’s structures into a number of lists, which are then internally traversed using the mouse scroll wheel.
The second main improvement is true grid rectification. Before, palisades and gates did not align exactly when using the grid and angle snapping options. Now, palisades and gates have been resized and adjusted to fit perfectly with 6 meter (long) and 3 meter (short) lengths. Tent placement stakes have also been updated to coincide with this new system, where tents now take up 6 meters in width (conveniently the same size as the long walls, or two short walls), making it easy to ascertain the required footprint of your fort when planning its construction. See below the update log for a simple example of this new system in action.
Making wall corners has also been greatly improved with new small and large corner pieces. These fit into the square size of their straight counterparts (either 3 meters square or 6 meters). Corners can be combined to create perfect circles, even. In addition, the old battlement has been updated with 3 variants, a long version, small corner, and large corner to match the new wall sizes.
Finally, a series of wall segments and gates, the “plankwalls,” have been added to help players bolster their camp defenses. These walls are thin, but well constructed, and adorned with parapets which provide solid cover from incoming arrows.
Thank you all for your patience and support. And as always, please submit bug reports and suggestions, I rely on your feedback!
Update Log:
Added build menu accessible with (B)
Added palisade corner large
Added palisade corner small
Added battlement short
Added battlement corner small
Added battlement corner large
Added plank wall short
Added plank wall long
Added plank wall corner small
Added plank wall corner large
Added plank gate clockwise
Added plank gate counter clockwise
Added sudes long
Added helmet feathers for the tesserarius rank
Added Shift and Control options when converting money or dumping food
Improved tent placement in snap mode by aligning their posts with the 6 meter grid
Improved battlement placement to align with walls in grid mode
Improved building speed by saving rotation when switching plans
Improved pila throwing in formation, will not waste pila on very small amount of enemies
Resized old palisades and gates to fit perfectly into 6 and 3 meter widths
Resized and renamed the old battlement, now the battlement long
Renamed the old sudes to sudes short
Reduced pila aiming randomness in formation
Adjusted build tool to default to grid and angle snap placement
Updated gate palisade model to have clipped bottoms
Updated Quick Start and Field Guide books with proof-read texts
Updated Quick Start book with new build menu controls
Optimized camp fires by having them switch on and off randomly at night
Fixed workers freezing up on harvest jobs when storage full
Here is an example of a simple 1-Century fort. Using the newly rectified palisade walls and tents, a perfect 5x3 grid was created to neatly house 4 defense platforms, 5 contubernium tents, 1 officer's tent, and a storage area. With the new battlements, plankwalls, and corner pieces, this base could be improved further, as seen in the update cover image.
Darkmatter Games will be hosting a base-building competition in the “Houses'' section of the Discord server. Please join and submit your base. I am looking forward to seeing your new designs!
Update 5.1
Legates,
Greetings! I am back from the GDC and working hard as we draw closer to the end of Warlord: Britannia’s official roadmap.
This update aims to address a long standing point of contention in the game, its tutorial. Some players appreciate the hands-off approach to the help menu, while others found themselves overwhelmed, lost, and frustrated.
In order to solve this issue while maintaining a balance, the help menu has been reworked to include two books. The first book is a Quick Start guide, designed purely as a step-by-step tutorial, fast, organized, and without any superfluous information. The second book, which used to be the help menu, has been reworked into a Field Guide.
New players can now work their way through the Quick Start, which sees them set up camp and capture their first farm, and are then guided to the Field Guide for more advanced gameplay features and information. Returning players might benefit from browsing the Field Guide too, as new info was added.
In addition, the books are organized further into chapters, which are navigable either by changing pages, or using new dropdown panels.
Aside from the new help menu, see below for a list of changes and improvements.
As always, thank you for your support, and I will be back shortly with another addition before moving to the Animals and Ambience roadmap update!
Update Log:
Added quick start guide
Added field guide, replaces the old help menu text
Added four new logistics-related museum exhibits
Added option to call/uncall the command staff
Added option to assign command staff to an outpost
Added call all and un-call all buttons in legion tab
Reworked Help menu to include books and chapters with subpages
Improved formation mode switching with a bouncing cycle, insteading of reverting to marching from testudo, the formation returns to battle mode
Edited core museum texts, awaiting edits for 3.0+ update content
Increased ambient light at night
Optimized torch and campfire lights
Fixed escape menu camera sliding
Fixed legionary weapons still up when disbanding in battle or testudo mode
Update 5.01
Legates,
Just some QOL changes and fixes for the new major update! Special thanks to Discord server member Generation Internet for their intelligent feedback.
I am looking forward to the GDC this week, and getting back to work on the next update thereafter!
Update Log:
Added ability to recruit new units while at an outpost
Disbanding now automatically assigns formed-up groups to nearest outpost or homebase
Food and supply fulfillment is now calculated with the current stored amount as well as daily extraction, making requirements more lenient, and vast storage space less critical
Fixed artillery following the formation mistakenly when Calling to Arms from an outpost
Fixed formation layout ghosts of non-called groups showing
Fixed possibility for convoys to start and end at the same settlement
Edit (a few hours after the initial patch): Fixed a bug with Calling to Arms and Disbanding with armies including command staff.
Logistics and Outposts 5.0
Legates,
Thank you all for your patience these past few months. The much awaited Logistics and Outposts 5.0 update is here! This update brings many new mechanic changes to the game, designed not to be more difficult or overwhelming, but rather add another layer of thoughtful complexity.
Logistics is the catch all term for the management of two new resources: Food and Supplies. Both are stored in your camp like Timber, so more storage is a must. Food and Supplies are consumed daily by your troops and give them various buffs and debuffs depending on how well you are keeping them in surplus.
For a visual representation of this, two new units, the Servant and the Mule, will now appear in your camp. These units do not require recruitment (they automatically scale with the size of your army) and will for the most part take care of themselves, following the camp around and bringing goods back from the nearest settlement.
Outposts are a whole new facet of the game designed to facilitate an aggressive playstyle, if managed carefully. Outposts attach to the closest settlement when placed down, and if manned with troops, will provide an “oppression” bonus, effectively nullifying the effects of unrest at that location and boosting production. The balance of course is in giving up groups to man these far-flung outposts, where they will be unable to support the main army in large battles.
This update is quite complex and there are likely scenarios myself and testers did not account for. So as always, if you see anything odd, please create a post on Steam or join the Discord server and create a bug report. There may need to be a few balance changes with Food and Supply amounts, so if something seems too easy or too hard, please make a note of that as well. I am grateful for your help and support!
Update Log:
Added food resource
Added supply resource
Added food and supply extraction option to settlements
Added food and supply daily consumption
Added unarmed convoys with porter civilians
Added randomization to convoy stats
Added servants and mules that follow the formation when relocating and ferry goods to camp when it is set up near a captured settlement
Added requirements section to camp tab to see food and supply requirements per day
Added accommodations section to camp tab to see overall army numbers and tent space requirement
Added personnel section to camp tab to see food and supply related buffs and debuffs
Added food and supply buffs and debuffs based on fulfillment
Added convert to silver button in treasury section of camp tab
Added tooltips to all text items in camp tab, valuable information is gleaned from these
Added “target unarmed” option to the Legion menu
Added outpost flag structure, structures and points placed near it will attach themselves
Added dropdown on each century to assign group to outposts in legion tab
Added outposts menu to view, rename, and teardown bases if needed
Added outpost interaction with settlements, blocks unrest penalties and boosts production if nearby
Added new a music track
Added UI scaling size option
Added coloring to some notifications like deaths and ambushes
Added strength counts to settlements, convoys, and warbands
Fixed archer and artillery points facing north on camp relocate
Fixed pop-in for barbarian clothes and objects
Fixed guards not climbing up in battlements
Fixed player falling through ground on relocate by disabling collision with structure plans
Fixed convoys ending up in settlements close to the homebase, and now, outposts
Improved worker code with a rewrite, allows for multiple workers on the same task
Improved in-game options menu layout
Improved help menu by breaking up larger sections
Improved notification text color visibility by darkening it
Improved in-camp navigation by removing torch navigation obstacles
Lowered unrest penalties
Reduced ambush frequency and chance
Slowed convoy movement speed
Increased convoy spawn rate
Increased build tool range
Increased internal storage cap to account for more starting resources
Increased starting gold and silver
Updated help menu with new logistics and outposts sections
Changed main menu theme to new music track
Final notes:
Some of you may have noticed that the promised “more building options and structures'' line in the roadmap is not yet delivered… In order to meet Steam’s Spring Sale deadline I decided to leave that out of this release. Expect something to come out before work on the next major roadmap update begins!
Next week I will be traveling to San Francisco for the GDC! If there are any Legates stationed on that remote frontier, let me know, and let us meet up around the conference.
